Photo of the Day: Drought Cuts Corn Crop

(AP) — In this July 2012 photo, corn stalks struggling from lack of rain and a heat wave covering most of the country are seen in Farmingdale, Ill.

A U.S. Department of Agriculture report released Friday showed farmers harvested 10.78 billion bushels of corn, less than three-fourths of what the agency predicted last spring. While the report covers many other crops, much of the attention has been on corn, which is widely used as an ingredient in many foods, provides feed for livestock and is mixed with gasoline as ethanol. The crop also was the hardest hit by the drought that settled in just as the plants were maturing.